'Ragtime' Author Highlights Crain Lecture Series

An Oct. 4 discussion of the press coverage of this summer’s Olympics kicked off the fall season of the Crain Lectures Series.

The admission-free, public lectures bring newsmakers and news analysts to Northwestern's Evanston campus to explore different perspectives on current events. Topics in the Medill School of Journalism’s popular lecture series this fall will include the wars in Vietnam and Iraq, the presidential election and the role of the writer.

The remaining lecture schedule is below. All presentations will take place at 4 p.m. in the Medill School's McCormick Tribune Center Forum.

Monday, Oct. 13: “Ragtime” and “Billy Bathgate” author and New Yorker contributor E. L. Doctorow presents “The Reporter’s Mission: Apprehending Reality.”

Monday, Nov. 8: Former prisoners-of-war Edward Mechenbier (U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam War) and David Williams (U.S. Army during the ongoing war with Iraq) share their perspectives in a discussion titled “Prisoners-of-War: Vietnam v. Iraq.” The lecture is held in conjunction with a traveling museum exhibit titled “Open Doors: Vietnam POWs 30 Years Later” that will be on display in the lobby of the McCormick Tribune Center.

Monday, Nov. 15: Atlantic Monthly national correspondent James Fallows will discuss the presidential election results in a speech titled “The Election: How and Why?”

For further information about the Crain Lectures, call (847) 491-5401 or check the Medill School of Journalism Web site at http://www.medill.northwestern.edu.

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